182 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



sheep Tvool, with an admixture of weed steins and grasses. Five 

 slightly incubated eggs constituted the set. They are not different 

 from eggs of true L. I. gamheli of the mainland." 



Dawson (1923) records two nests found on Santa Cruz Island, near 

 Prisoners Harbor, one 6 feet up in an acacia tree and the other in a 

 pollard willow. The first nest contained six eggs and the second held 

 five; in both cases there were two distinct types of eggs in the nest, 

 with three slirikes in attendance. Dr. Miller (1931) says that "Mail- 

 liard (1899, p. 42) found two nests on the same island, one placed 

 in a brush pile, the other in a gum (eucalyptus) tree." 



Eggs. — The four, five, or six eggs laid by the island shrike are ap- 

 parently indistinguishable from those of the bird of the mainland. 

 The measurements of 30 eggs average 25.0 by 17.5 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 26.1 by 18.3, 24.9 by 19.7, and 

 24.4 by 13.2 millimeters. 



Behavwr. — One of the most prominent characteristics of the island 

 shrike seems to be its shyness or its wildness. Dr. Mearns (1898) 

 writes : 



All who have seen it regard it as one of the wildest of birds. On his visits 

 to San Clemente, in 1888 and 1889, Mr. Townsend was unable to obtain a speci- 

 men. In 1894, Mr. Anthony and myself procured a single one — with difficulty, 

 although Shrikes were seen daily. At night, when we went out to shoot bats, 

 Shrilves would dash about us, uttering loud, harsh screams, differing from the 

 voices of any Shrilces I have heard elsewhere. In the daytime they never per- 

 mitted us to come within range of them. 



Dr. Grinnell (1897) found the birds on San Clemente equally 

 shy : "This bird was without question the shyest and hardest to be 

 secured of any on the island. Indeed it was as shy as any hawk I 

 ever saw. It was tolerably common ; that is, two or three could be 

 generally seen during an hour's walk. There was a pair in the 

 neighborhood of the windmill where we were camping, and nearly 

 every morning a little after daybreak the male would perch either 

 on the windmill or on the topmost twig of a brush pile on the opposite 

 side of the ravine, and utter its defiant shrike notes. The rustle of 

 the tent door or the click of a gun lock, however, was sufficient to send 

 him up over the ridge, not to appear again for hours." 



Family STURNIDAE : Starlings 



STURNUS VULGARIS VULGARIS Linnaeus 

 STARLING 



HABITS 



There are some 60 species of starlings widely scattered over the 

 Eastern Hemispliere, though none indigenous in Australia or in New 

 Guinea. We have only two resident species in North America, both 



